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Born on this day in 1934 singer and actress Barbara McNair.
This sterling revival shows the Metropolitan to be surviving well and in good shape.
“It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera,” said Met General Manager Peter Gelb.
The Met’s new Don Carlos has prompted a lot of discussion lately about opera-in-translation, so Trove Thursday this week offers two works unexpectedly performed in French: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snegourotchka and Weber’s Euryanthe.
Born on this day in 1911 actress Jean Harlow.
On this day in 1933 the film King Kong premiered simultaneously at Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy.
There was something very Russian—indeed, Chekhovian—about the mix of joy and tears, as the Academy of Vocal Arts performed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
When was the last time the Metropolitan Opera mounted a new production that was musically outstanding yet the direction and/or design mostly sucked?
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Northern star
Northern star
Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.
Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Tra voi belle
Tra voi belle
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
León in winter
León in winter
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Assai più vale il soglio
che un genitor perduto
Assai più vale il soglio
che un genitor perduto
Parterre Box highlights a busy few months of Verdi performances for Marina Rebeka and Ludovic Tézier with an exciting sample of their debuts in Nabucco.
Parterre Box highlights a busy few months of Verdi performances for Marina Rebeka and Ludovic Tézier with an exciting sample of their debuts in Nabucco.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Women’s liberation
Women’s liberation
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Ash and you shall receive
Ash and you shall receive
Bellini and Donizetti may be top of mind these days, so Parterre Box offers two budding belcantisti, Beth Taylor and Dave Monaco, in a duet from Rossini’s La cenerentola.
Bellini and Donizetti may be top of mind these days, so Parterre Box offers two budding belcantisti, Beth Taylor and Dave Monaco, in a duet from Rossini’s La cenerentola.
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In a busy flurry of Instagram posts earlier today, Anna Netrebko announced a temporary withdrawal from her performing career.
The Met’s new season, including Medea with Sondra Radvanovsky, set parterrian tongues wagging during the month of February 2022.
On this day in 1979 Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler‘s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened at the Uris Theatre.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Matthew Polenzani in the title role, Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois, Jamie Barton as Eboli, Etienne Dupuis as Rodrigue, Eric Owens as Philippe II and John Relyea as the Grand Inquisitor.
Jordi Savall and William Christie, 80 and 77 respectively, stand as the two senior masters whose recordings and appearances have done the most over the past decades to build a healthy local enthusiasm for pre-Classical music.
Born on this day in 1948 actress and singer Bernadette Peters.
In any case, we are now in the Queen’s garden of the Palace in Madrid. It is the day before the coronation of King Philip. Coronation? What coronation?
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Ben Miller
A favorite bass performance from Ben Miller
The one, the only Fyodor Chaliapin, singing Massenet’s “Elegie” (with, I believe, a young Piatigorsky on the cello part).
The one, the only Fyodor Chaliapin, singing Massenet’s “Elegie” (with, I believe, a young Piatigorsky on the cello part).
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Leyla Gender-Bender
A favorite bass performance from Leyla Gender-Bender
Fyodor Chaliapin is considered one of the greatest basses ever because he combined a dark, flexible, and instantly recognizable bass voice with extraordinary musical intelligence and nuance.
Fyodor Chaliapin is considered one of the greatest basses ever because he combined a dark, flexible, and instantly recognizable bass voice with extraordinary musical intelligence and nuance.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
The Talk of the Town
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
The Talk of the Town
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
The Talk of the Town
The 1957 Anna Bolena is so overrated
The 1957 Anna Bolena is so overrated
While the three leads do sing the material well, there has been a glut of recordings since then which are more complete and at least as well sung.
While the three leads do sing the material well, there has been a glut of recordings since then which are more complete and at least as well sung.
Born on this day in 1932 actress and humanitarian Dame Elizabeth Taylor.
The only correct version of Don Carlos must be in French. That is the language that Verdi composed it in and he made all his revisions in that language.
Artistic temperament she had, but not including self-centered megalomania. She was one of the most fully human individuals I have ever known.
Highlights showcase the Met’s most revered African American stars.
Born on this day in 1921 actress, comedian, dancer, and singer Betty Hutton.
In online discussion on “Favorite Opera” and cuts in opera in general, it seems Don Carlos (in its original French title) or Don Carlo (as it is better known in Italian) – with or without the “s” – generally get the most votes both as favorite and as an opera from which deplorable cuts are made.
On this day in 1953, Wonderful Town, a collaboration between Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Leonard Bernstein, opened at the Winter Garden Theater. Rosalind Russell starred as aspiring writer Ruth Sherwood.
Trove Thursday offers Shostakovich’s 1962 Katerina Izmailova with Australian soprano Marie Collier as its anti-heroine and Jon Vickers as her lover.